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Portraiture of HJitfiain |)cnn. 



MEMORIAL 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO HISTORY. 



|)nitmitiUT of SDilluiiu |)niii. 



FRANK M. ETTING 



I'lir.ss i>i- Scribnuk's Mo\thi.\ 
1876. 



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iifspcrtfudi; ,i)ns.nibfi5 to 

MRS. ANNE HOPKINSDN FOGGO, 
MRS. HENRY WHARTON, 
MRS. SAMUEL CHEW. 



PORTRAITURE OF WILLIAM PENN. 




Therk are few historical ]5ictures that ha\e 
taken firmer hold of the public mind, within 
the last hundred years, than West's painting 
of Penn's Treaty with the Indians. The 
event which it depicts is uniformly regarded 
as the most memorable in the history of the 
settlement of America ; typical of just deal- 
ing with the aborigines, it is described by 
an English historian as " the most glori- 
ous in the annals of the world." Our own 



Bancroft contemplates with pride the meet- 
ing of William Penn, surrounded by a few 
friends in the habiliments of peace, with the 
numerous delegation of the Lenni Lenape 
tribes. "The Great Treaty was not," says 
he, " for the purchase of lands, but was 
held for confirming what Penn had written 
and Markham covenanted ; its sublime pur- 
pose was the recognition of the equal rights 
of humanity." 



PORTRAITIRE OF WILLIAM PENX. 



" The Great Spirit " — such were William 
Perm's own words — " \\ho made you and us, 
who rules the heaven and the earth, and 
who knows tlic innermost thoughts of man, 
knows that 1 and my friends have a liearty 
desire to live in peace and friendsliip with 
you, and to serve you to tlie utmost of our 
power. Our object is not to do injury, but 
to do good. We are here met on the broad 
pathway of good faith and good-will, so that 



children's children while the creeks and riv- 
ers run, and w hile the sun, moon, and stars 
endure." 

While we accord due honor to Roger 
Williams and to Lord Baltimore, we seek in 
vain for any specific grant in the funda- 
mental laws of Rhode Island or Marj'land for 
such a concession as that made by William 
Penn, and rendered effective by this ver}- 
Treaty, not sworn to, and never broken : 




TREATY WITH THE INDIANS — BY BBN'JAMIN WEST. 



no advantage may be taken on either side, 
but all shall be openness, brotherhood, and 
love. I would not compare the friendship 
now sought to a chain, since the rain might 
rust it, or a tree fall and break it ; but the 
Indians shall be esteemed by us as the 
same flesh and blood with the Christians, 
and the same as if one man's body was to 
be divided in two parts, and, as such, the 
ground should be occupied as common to 
both people." 

According to some authorities, he present- 
ed them a copy of the compact, telling them 
to preserve it carefully for three generations, 
that their children might see and know what 
then pa.ssed in council as if he remained him- 
self with them to repeat it, but that the fourth 
generation would forget both him and it, 
and he desired this league of friendship to 
be preserved " between our children and our 



" Every inhabitant, artificer, or other resi- 
dent in the said Province that pays scot and 
lot to the Government shall be deemed and 
accounted a Freeman of the said Province," 
— and 

"Article XXXV. That ALL persons living 
in this Provincewhoconfessandacknowledge 
the one Almighty and Eternal God to be 
the Creator, L'jjliolder, and Ruler of the 
world, and that hold themselves obliged in 
conscience to live peaceably and justly in 
civil society, shall in no ways be molested 
or prejudiced for their religious persuasion 
or practice in matters of faith and worship ; 
nor shall they be compelled at any time to 
frequent or maintain any religious worship, 
place or ministry whatsoever." 

Such were the words, prepared in April 
preceding, and inscribed upon the comer- 
stone of the Commonwealth laid by \\'illiam 



PORTRAITURE OF WILLIAM PENN. 



Penn under the famous Elm at the dose of 
November, 1682 ; and, as the sequel proved, 
they were not idle words. 

While the right is claimed to point out the 
anachronisms of West's picture, and to ob- 
ject to the incongruities it presents, let us 
not forget that West had not the materials 
for research nor the time to devote to this 
special subject ; the puqjose is not to criti- 
cise, but to point out facts and the reali- 
ties of the hero as well as of the event he 
has thus no little contributed to commemo- 
rate. 

It will be remembered that before West 
painted in England, all British historical 
figures had appeared in a masking habit ; 
" the actions of Englishmen seemed all to 
have been perfonned — if costume were to 
be believed — by Greeks or by Romans." In 
"The Death of Wolfe" Mr. West was the first 
to dismiss this pedantry and restore nature 
and propriety. With this period of 1758, 
its costumes and its habits, Mr. West was 
familiar;* but Penn's Treaty — apparently 
the very next historical subject he attempted 
— had taken place eighty-eight years before. 
He was, of course, not personally familiar 
with the costume of 1682, and he apparently 
essayed to introduce no contemporaneous 
portraits, save that of Penn himself. 

In seeking some representation of Penn, 
he seems to have lighted upon the original 
bust (or its reproduction), which it was 
known was carved by one Sylvanus Bevan, 
and under these circumstances, as related by 
Dr. Franklin in a letter to Henry Home, Lord 
Kames. 

\Vhen old Lord Cobham was adorning 
his garden at Stowe with the busts of famous 
men, he made inquiry for a picture of 
William Penn many years after the death of 

* " The subject I have to represent," said West 
on this occasion to Sir Joshua Rejnolds, who 
objected to throwing aside the classic garb, "is 
a great battle fought and won, and the same tnit/i 
which gives tnw to tlie historian should rule the 
painter. If, instead of the facts of the action, I 
introduce fictions, how shall I be understood by pos- 
terity ? The classic dress is certainly picturesque ; 
but, by using it, I shall lose in sentiment what I 
gain in external grace. I want to mark the place, 
the time, and the people, and to do this, I must 
abide by truth." 

Reynolds subsequently seated himself before the 
finished picture, examined it minutely for half an 
hour, and then said : " West has conquered ; he has 
treated his subject as it ought to be treated ; I 
retract my objections. I foresee th.it this picture 
will not only become one of the most popul.ir, but 
wil! occasion a revolution in art." Even in this case, 
however, .Mr. West did not escape some incon- 
gruities in its execution. 



the latter, but could find none ; whereuijon 
Sylvanus Bevan, an old Quaker apothecary', 
remarkable for the notice he took of counte- 
nances, and a knack he had of cutting in 
ivory strong likene.sses of persons he had 
once seen, hearing of Lord Coliham's desire, 
set himself to rerullcct Penn's face, witli 




which he had been well acquamted. He 
accordingly cut a bust in ivor)', and sent it 
to Lord Cobham without letter or notice ; 
whereupon " my Lord, who had person- 
ally known Penn, immediately exclaimed, 
' Whence came this ? — it is William Penn 
himself!'" From this little bust the large 
one in the garden was formed.* 

The latter became West's model, and upon 
it he stuck a broad-brimmed hat, clothing 
the figure in drab, and making it corjoulent 
enough in consistency with this bust, but 
utterly at variance with the now known 

* " Toward the close of the year 1 759, Dr. Frank- 
lin, together with his son, the late Governor Frank- 
lin of New Jersey, visited Scotland. While in that 
country, the Doctor received particular attentions 
from the celebrated Henry Home, Lord Kames (a 
character well known in the literary worlds with 
whom he then passed some days, at his Lordship's 
country-seat in the shire of Berwick. From this 
commencement of their personal .acquaintance with 
each other, a correspondence subsisted between Lord 
Kames and the Doctor, until a few years before the 
death of the former, which occurred in the year 
17S2, when his Lordship was in the eighty-seventh 
year of his age. It appears that some time prior to 
the yeari-jto. Lord Kames had offered to Dr. Frank- 



PORTRAITURE OF WILLIAM PEX.X. 



appearance of Penn at the age of 38, when 
he met the Indians first in council. 

In an admirable sketch of the private life 
of William Penn, Mr. Joshua Francis Fisher 
very justly says: '' Mr. West, and I believe 
all other painters who have introduced the 
early Quakers into their pictures, are charge- 
able with great mistakes in the costumes 
they have selected for them ; in many 
instances giving them hats and coats of a 
form not even invented for half a century 
after the date of the scene they have wished 
to represent upon their canvas." Mr. Fisher 



lin the loan of ' Penn's picture ; ' for, in a letter to 
his Lordship from the Doctor, written from London 
on the 3d of January, 1760, he refers to this offer. 
It will appear, however, by the Doctor's letter, that 
he conceived the picture to be a portrait of William 
Peiin, the founder of Pennsylvania; — perhaps, from 
Lord Karnes having only mentioned it as being 
' Penn's picture,' without designating him as Ad- 
miral Penn. That part of the Doctor's letter which 
relates to this subject, is in these words : 

" ' Your Lordship's kind offer of Penn's picture is 
exceedingly obliging. But, were it certainly his 
picture, it would be too valuable a ciu'iosity for me 
to think of accepting it; I should only desire the 
favor of leave to take a copy of it. I could wish to 
know the history of the picture before it came into 
your hands, and the grounds for supposing it his. 
I have at present some doubt of it : first, because 
tlie primitive Quakers used to declare against pict- 
ures as a \'ain expense; a man suffering his por- 
trait to be taken, was condemned as pride ; and I 
think to this day it is very little practiced among 
them. Then, it is on a board ; and I imagine the 
pr.actice of painting portraits on boards did not 
come down so low as Penn's time ; but of this I am 
not certain.' His 'other reason' is stated in the 
te.xt : ' I doubt, too,' Franklin goes on to say, 
'whether the whisker was not quite out of use, at 
the time when Penn must have been of the age ap- 
pearing in the face of that picture. And yet, not- 
withstanding these reasons, I am not without some 
hope that it may be his, because I know some emi- 
nent Quakers have had their pictures privately 
drawn, and deposited with trusty friends ; and I 
know also that there is extant at Philadel])hia, a 
very good picture of Mrs. Penn, his last wife. After 
all, I own I have a strong desire to be satisfied con- 
cerning this picture, and, as Bevan is yet living here, 
and some other old Quakers that remember William 
Penn, who died but in 171S, I would wish to have it 
sent me, carefully packed in a box, by the wagon 
(for I would not trust it by sea), that I may obtain 
their opinion. The charges I shall very cheerfully 

Cay; and if it proves to be Penn's picture, I shall 
e gratefully obliged to your Lordship for leave to 
take a copy of it, and will cheerfully return the 
original.'" — '^ Lord Karnes's Life," by Lord Wood- 
hoiiselce, p. 265. 

Lord Woodhouselce's " Memoirs of the Life of 
Lord Karnes " states that the portrait referred to 
was sent to Dr. Franklin and never returned. 

It proved to lie the portrait of .\dmiral Penn — 
the father of W illiam. The last trace of this picture 
is that Richard Bache, a grandson of Dr. Franklin, 
placed it about 1S09 in the .\cademy of Fine Arts in 
Philadelphia. 



assigns the dresses introduced into this pict- 
ure to a period thirty years afterward, " if," 
says he, " they were ever worn at all." He 
ascribes with ajjparent justice the selection 
of dresses to West's recollections of what he 
had seen the Quakers wear — his father 
among the number — in his early youth in 
Pennsylvania. It is certain, from an orig- 
inal letter now before me, addressed in 1775 
to his brother William, that he had intro- 
duced into the group a striking full-length 
portrait of his father and one of a brother 
whom he styles " of Reading." 

This picture of Penn unfortunately, with 
all its imperfections, has formed the proto- 
type for nearly all the jjortraits introduced 
to the American public. It is the one from 
which Inman's fine painting was made by 
order of the Society for commemorating the 
landing of Penn, for the certificates of stock 
for the United States Bank, and for all the 
official effigies hitherto issued by State or 
City authority. 

Independent of the meaningless face which 
belies the real Penn, currency has thus been 
given to a supposed indorsement by him 
of principles totally foreign to those he actu- 
ally expressed, — that art irremovable hat and 
drab clothes were needed for Friends' ten- 
ets. William Penn was a gentleman by 
birth, by education, and bv, what is some- 
times found independently of both, instinct. 
He "knew" — to use his own words — "no 
religion that destroys courtesy, civility, and 
kindness, which, rightly understood, are 
great indications of true men, if not of good 
Christians." 

The famous hat story is preserved as 
indicative of his independence and of his 
abhorrence of what would be construed into 
reverence for men ; but no instance through- 
out his whole life can be cited where he was 
wanting in respect to his equals, or where 
he forced himself into the society of his infe- 
riors and kept his hat upon his head, as an 
assertion, not of independence, but of supe- 
riority. 

As to the style of the hat actually worn 
by him, it was simply that of the period. 
An anecdote has been preserved of him that 
sufficiently indicates this. When a.sked by 
King James U. the differences between the 
Catholic and the Quaker religions, he made 
a comparison between the hat worn by the 
King, which was adorned by feathers and 
ribbons, and his own, which was |jlain. " The 
only diflerence," re])lied Penn, " lies in the 
ornaments which have been added to thine." 
Thus the cut, shape and material of his hat 



PORTRAITURE OF WILLIAM PENN. 



could not have varied from the standard of 
his day ; nor would it have been in keeping 
with his known character to adopt any pecu- 
liarity (of shape or color) in dress to attract 
attention. His practice, and that of Friends 
of his day, was in conformity with the rules 
of their Society, at that time sufficiently evi- 
denced from an original manuscript volume 
of "Advices by the Yearly Meeting of 



in wearing superfluity of apparel ; " and again, 
in 1694 : "We tenderly advise all, both old 
and young, to keep out of the world's cor- 
rupt language, manners, and vain, needless 
customs and fashions in apparel;" while sim- 
ilar cautions are reiterated " not to launch 
into the vain customs and fashions too 
prevalent among the professors of Christian- 
ity." Down to the very middle of the last 




Friends" in my possession. Under date 
of 1695 is this entry : ".\dvised, that all that 
profess the truth keep to plainness in apparel, 
as becomes tiie truth, and that none wear 
long-lajjped sleeves, or coats gathered at the 
sides, or superfluous buttons, or ^w^'//v7'(^('«.f 
about their hats, or long curled periwigs." 
This volume of advices begins in 1681. In 
1682, the first reference to dress, Friends are 
advised " to take heed that thev be not found 



century no directions are to be found as to 
drab colors or any especial cut of coat. It 
was not till about 1760 that the then exist- 
ing style seems to have become crystallized 
into a uniform for those professing Friends' 
principles, and probably at the same time 
that the hat-on-head theory was made an 
essential indication of their adherence to 
" the Truth." 

These errors, as has been intimated, are 



PORTRAITURE OF WILLIAM PENN. 



unfortunately encouraged by West's picture. 
So far as it claims to represent Penn's 
ap])earance, bearing, or habits, we must 
entirely repudiate it. The only portrait 
known as genuine of Penn until a few years 
since, represents him as a youth of twenty- 
two, and in a style of dress utterly at vari- 
ance with his matured views. He wears a 
full suit of amior, though his head is un- 
covered. 

This picture was painted from life, it is 
believed, in Ireland, when he had "a modish 
person grown — (juite the fine gentleman." 
It was presented to the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania by Granville Penn, who 
calls it " a perfect portrait." The name of the 
artist I have not been able to learn. It has 
been admirably engraved by Schoff, and 
Mr. Bancroft very judiciously adopted it 
twenty-five years ago in his "History of the 
United States" in preference to the West 
likeness. 

We are in 1876 enabled to ])resent to the 
people of the United States William Penn 
as he really looked and really dressed while 
in the full maturity of his powers. The 
authority for so doing and the circumstances 
seem to call for some detail. 

Mrs. Maria Webb, of Dublin, who had 
investigated "the Penns," communicated the 
existence of an original portrait of William 
Penn, which she had discovered, through a 
correspondent in County Durham, England, 
to be in possession of a landed proprietor 
by the name of Allan. A carte dc visite from 
this picture she sent to Samuel L. Smedley, of 
Philadelphia. This seemed to demand in- 
vestigation. 

Surtees, in his " History of the County of 
Durham," disclosed the existence of an an- 
cient seat, Blackwell Grange on the Tees in 
that county, and thus describes a valuable 
collection of paintings which had been made 
by George Allan, Esq., an indefatigable 
antiquary and virtuoso of the middle of 
the last century. They " filled every panel, 
and gradually insinuated themselves along 
the passage, and cloathed the walls of the 
great staircase. Of the portraits, some of 
the most remarkable are Anna Boleyn, by 
Holbein ; Sir Henry Wootton, by Sir Peter 
Lely; Lady tastlemaine, by Lely ; William, 
Earl of Pembroke, and his Lady, by Jansen; 
a gallant portrait of Lord Fairfax, by Lely; 
a lion hunt, by old Coyle ; a landscape, by 
Teniers ; the head of a corpse, horribly 
expressive, by Caracci. The collection 
includes several admirable crayon draw- 
ings by Francis Place, fine heads of 



Charies II., and of William Penn and his 
wife."* 

Letters to the present owner of Blackwell 
Grange proving fruitless to secure a cojiy of 
this Penn portrait for the National Museum 
of Indejiendence Hall, a gentleman aixiut 
starting for Eurojje was requested to pay a 
visit to Mr. Allan, and if, upon inspection on 
the spot, the circumstances warranted it, to se- 
cure a copy. Mr. Jolin Jay Smith, pleasuring 
in the summer of 1874 at a watering-place, 
Saltburn-by-the-Sea, wrote upon the 5th of 
August, 1874,: " I have made a pretty long 
excursion from here to inspect the portraits 
of \\'illiani Penn and his -wife. They are 
undoubtedly authentic, as declared by Sur- 
tees, and Penn's is very lovely. The photo- 
graph conveys but a slight idea of his manly 
and sweet face. Mr. Allan received me 
very kindly indeed, and, though he declined 
letting the portraits go out of his house, he 
will allow the artist to see and copy them." 

This was accordingly done, but proved 
only the beginning of the vicissitudes of the 
picture before a satisfactory result was at- 
tained. The copy, completed as to the 
head, but with the background unfinished, 
and the bust and garments but dimly shad- 
owed, w^as brought to Philadelphia, and 
intrusted to another hand to complete. 

By an unfortunate misapprehension, the 
color of the coat, to suit modern notions of 
" Quaker colors," was changed. The back- 
ground was made to correspond in tone, 
and then (O ye Gods!), finishing "made 
the head look very slight, so that the 
artist had to go over it all, changing it as 

* Horace Walpole, in his anecdotes, tells us that 
Mr. Francis Place of County Durham, England, 
was placed as clerk to an attorney in London, where 
he continued till 1665, when he quitted the profession 
that was contrary to his inclinations and commenced 
the pursuit of the arts for which he had talents. His 
genius is described as fanciful, but erratic. He 
painted, designed, and etched excellently, but merely 
for his own amusement. He was the first to intro- 
duce mezzotints in Kngland. Ralph Thoresby says 
Mr. Place discovered an earth for, and a method of, 
making porcelain, which he put in practice at the 
.Manor Houseof York, of which manufacture he gave 
him a fine mug for his Museum. We also learn 
that Mr. Place discovered porphyry at Mount Sorrel 
in Leicestershire, of whicli he had a piece to grind 
colors on. He seldom reside<l in London, and in 
his rambles, he painted, drew, and engraved occa- 
sionally. In the reign of Charles H. he was offered 
a pension of £^00 a year to draw the Royal Navy, 
but declined accepting it, as he could not endure 
confinement or dependence. Mr. Place died in 
172S, and his widow, quitting the Manor House in 
York, disposed of his paintings. There are two 
heads of Mr. Place extant, one by himself, the face 
only finished, and another by .Murray. 



PORTRAITURE OF WILLIAM FENN. 



little as possible, but getting more strength 
of color and finish into it, working on the 
face as lightly as possible, simply to make it a 
little less rough and unfinished than it was! ! " 

Thus, all the labor of again securing per- 
mission to make a second copy had to be 
gone over again, and again letters to the 
owner of the Orange as well as to the artist 
were treated with silent disregard. Glad to 
ascribe this to want of proper addresses, an 
appeal was made to the distinguished Phila- 
delphia artist, Miss Anna Lea, now resi- 
dent in London. Through lier, Henry J. 
Wright, the copyist, a man of unquestion- 
able ability, was found. But it then appeared 
that his professional services had been 
farmed out to a picture-broker, who haggled 
over the conditions, through a course of sev- 
eral letters, and sought to impose conditions 
utterly inconsistent with his position or that 
of his copyist. 

Having been finally brought to terms, the 
order was given in December, 1874, with 
peremptory directions that no delay should 
occur. The pictures were completed early in 
the following year, but the fellow kept the 
pictures for his own purposes till the following 
May, and they did not arrive in Philadelphia 
until June. 



Here another difficulty was encountered, 
for William Penn's portrait was not per- 
mitted by the Collector of the Customs to be 
placed in Independence Hall without pay- 
ing toll to the United States authorities. 
" 1'he Founder of Pennsylvania, and Han- 
nah his Wife," were placed in close confine- 
ment for forty days and forty nights till, 
all the fonnalities complied with, the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury having cordially 
approved a free passport, these noble 
likenesses were placed in " visual juxtaposi- 
tion " with the original painting of the Treaty 
by West. 

Both genuine portraits, the Historical 
Society portrait at the age of 22, and this 
National Museum portrait at the age of 52, 
seem to realize the recorded description of 
Penn as " eminently handsome, the expres- 
sion of his countenance remarkably pleasing 
and sweet, his eye dark and lively, and his 
hair flowing gracefully over his shoulders." 
His predominanttrait of benevolence .stands 
out in both of these portraits, — especially 
in the latter, the noble brow, expressive 
eyes, firm but gentle mouth, speak that 
"sweet reasonableness," characteristic of the 
pioneer, on this continent, of true peace on 
earth, and good-will toward men. 



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